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EA Offers Big Hint on Dragon Age 2

A full-blown sequel one year after the original? That's what EA seems to be saying.

In its quarterly financial statement issued in February, Electronic Arts listed "Dragon Age Title" as a fiscal fourth quarter release (January-March 2011). Now it appears EA is confident enough to reveal the exact date we'll see a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins.

As discovered by 1UP, preview copies of the Dragon Age: Origins expansion, Awakening, due to launch on March 16, include a revealing placard. The card shows the game's blood dragon logo in full flight with a date above its head: 02.01.2011. No further details are provided.

Give me back my son!

Considering Dragon Age: Origins was in development for nearly seven years, a full-blown sequel just one year after the original was released seems premature, particularly considering the game's most talked-about flaw, dated graphics, is linked directly to its engine. However, according to a January post on Joystiq, that's exactly what BioWare is working on for its Dragon Age sequel:

Dragon Age: Origins presents strong evidence that great games can overcome gawd-awful graphics, but BioWare isn't about to test that theory -- and the limits of our forgiveness -- again in the sequel. "I think one of the key things we're working on in Dragon Age 2 is the technology," BioWare VP Greg Zeschuk recently told Joystiq. "I can confirm that we're doing a lot of work on the Dragon Age engine, and doing a lot of stuff to pump it -- to make it visually super hot."

We'll let you know when we hear more from EA and BioWare about Dragon Age 2.

Sharkey says: A visually hot Dragon Age just one year after the original? Sounds like mission impossible. But the card EA stuck in Awakening seems to indicate the developers are working to make it happen. Here's to hoping they do. I loved getting lost in the Dragon Age world, but couldn't help noticing it wasn't very pretty.